The neighborhood is the Good Ship Impudence, a well-gunned merchantman, smuggler, occasional privateer, and freebooter; and its home port of Castillo Pato, a small town with a big name on a lonely unnamed island somewhere on the Spanish Main. The Impudence was built in Blackwell Yard in 1605, captured by a Spanish freebooter on its first voyage, confiscated by the Crown, sold to a Dutchman, and after a brief none-too-illustrious career under a series of unlucky owners wrecked near Castillo Pato and salvaged by the town.

On board are a number of humans, maybe a hundred, who exist to take care of the ship and get it into trouble. The Impudence has had a number of captains, none of them particularly lucky, but since its repairs it's managed to make a small legitimate profit... and enough under the table to keep the owners happy. The current captain is named Gifford Palgrave, and he's determined to make a name for himself and "his" ship. Well, it's 30% his, anyway.

With them are a small number (maybe 10, in total) pets, and a varying amount of small livestock that has to be replaced after a long voyage. These are pets of individual crew members, and subject to their owners' orders, and are expected to be general gofers for the rest of the crew. If they have specific talents, they'll be put to use.

There's two groups of rats, one who lives under the hold and who have built a rather smashing little town out of sight of the humans, and who consider themselves the natural rulers of the ship by dint of their accomplishments, and another group who lurk between and among the human accommodations and consider themselves the natural rulers of the ship by dint of their knowledge. They don't fight each other, much, because they have bigger problems, mainly...

The ship's cats, who consider themselves the natural rulers of the ship because they're cats. Their jobs are to take care of the rats... even if they came aboard as pets.

The leaders of the rats are William Bandy the captain of the topside rats, and Sally Bruce, queen of the bilges. William Bandy has a number of seagulls working for him, as scouts and spies, paid off in stolen delicacies.

The rats are British, the crew are mostly Spanish, and I'm not going to bother worrying about language, everyone just understands everyone. Unless someone shows up speaking Nahautl or something. [note: so of course someone showed up speaking Nahuatl]

The topside rats have a rat-sized dinghy, the Estaurdo Pequeño, that has always been there as far as they know (maybe it was a toy, or a model). They can only use it at night, because it's a sure thing that if the human crew saw it they'd use it for target practice.

Back home in Castillo Pato is a handful of fishing vessels (ex ship's boats), some farms, docks, surprisingly large warehouses for such a small town, and a tavern that supplies many of the needs of visiting sailors. The innkeeper, Juan Acosta (which may not be his real name), also owns over 50% of the Impudence and has substantial shares in two other ships and is the de-facto head of the town. He has a pet fox (the 17th Century Fox) who is the de-facto head of the animals of Castillo Pato.

[This message will accumulate additional background and storyline as I assemble it]

Pets are going to be of the easy-to-take-care-of kind you'd expect on a wooden ship in the tropics. Apart from traditional dogs, birds, and monkeys it's actually pretty wide open. Anything that might be picked up in Europe, South or Central America, or Sub-Saharan Africa. Maybe Indian, if you really want to play Rikki Tikki Tavi. No Far East, nothing exclusively found in North America away from the Gulf Coast, and definitely no Australasia. Nothing big or hard to keep fed, and nothing that's likely to kill people accidentally if it gets ticked off: lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, wolverine, and honey badger are right out. This is the only absolute restriction, but do keep in mind the food situation.

Pure herbivores are going to have a hard time if the ship gets becalmed and has to go to hard rations. Though that's going to be about the only time they'll be able to try fishing... these boats generally move too fast to fish from.

Obligate carnivores like cats and mustelids are going to be eating rats, that's their job, and even human rations are going to be short in nutrients. From the point of view of the rats, they're villains. That includes exotic cats, and cat-like viverrids.

As noted above, animals with really exotic requirements are right out. Forget about insectivores.

European otter is possible, marine otter (Lontra Felina) would be more practical if it's going to live on rats and salt fish, and even then it won't like it. Fresh fish? Only when becalmed or in port, the ship's too fast to keep up with if you're chasing fish as well, and they won't stop for a lost animal.

Most practical would be things like canids, primates, procyonids, and omnivorous mustelids like the kinkajou. Foxes are actually pretty good from a food point of view, though European foxes are not going to like the heat. Viverrids are good, but they're exclusively old-world animals and most of the interesting varieties are native to the Far East... mongooses (including meerkats) are most likely, maybe Madagascan carnivores, I'm not sure how that fits in the timeline...

Also, the ship is undercrewed. Animals are considered crew. Second class crew, but they have to be willing to work, if not, or if they're too much trouble to keep alive, they won't get killed off (PG rating) but will be "left behind" somewhere (Castillo Pato if they're lucky).

Last edited by Hlaoroo on Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:42 pm, edited 8 times in total.

Wed May 15, 2013 9:47 pm

Hlaoroo

E-Quoll to Any Challenge!

Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:09 amPosts: 8305Location: Down Under

17th Century Fox - Dramatis Personae

Dramatis Personae

NPCs:

William Bandy = "Captain" of the rats, head of the "topside" rats. (color is #604020)Sally Bruce = "Queen of the Bilges", head of the "bilge rats".Gifford Palgrave = Actual human captain of the Impudence. (color is #BF4000)Juan Acosta = Innkeeper and ship owner, more or less head of the town.Isabella = The "17th Century Fox", Juan's pet and presumptive head of the town animals.

Last edited by Hlaoroo on Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:24 am, edited 43 times in total.

Wed May 15, 2013 9:47 pm

Hlaoroo

E-Quoll to Any Challenge!

Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:09 amPosts: 8305Location: Down Under

Re: 17th Century Fox - Out of Character

Welcome, one and all, to the swashbuckling adventure that is "17th Century Fox". I'm Hlaoroo, the GM, so address the bulk of your questions to me. Hotep the Psychic is the backup GM so if you can't get hold of me for any reason then please feel free to ask him instead.

Watch this spot for any important announcements I may have during the game.

Good luck and have fun.

First announcement: All sailors would know nautical directions, so here's a quick refresher:

Bow=front of the boatStern=rear of the boatPort=left of the boatStarboard=right of the boatFore=towards the front of the shipAft=towards the rear of the ship

Here's a picture showing the watches and bells. It's taken via a screengrab directly from this wikipedia page. This is how they would have measured time on the ship.

The biggest mongooses are not more than dog-sized, and I mean a regular mutt dog, not a "small horse" like a Great Dane. Most species are smaller than cats. By "big species" I mean lions and tigers and bears (oh my). No panthers or leopards or cheetahs, either. And, to be fair to the felines, no wolves (maned or otherwise).

The problem with calling it Impudence is that in time we may have things happening on the island as well as on other ships and at that point the name wouldn't really work anymore. I'm happy to stick with 17thCF for now.

I'm changing my character's last name to Drake to make his owner an ancestor of the owners of 3 of my other RP characters

_________________I'm a shape-shifter. I'm currently in whatever form I feel likeParadigm Shift by meI do not actually believe any of what I'm saying.RP character sheets

Thu May 16, 2013 3:16 pm

WeirdGamer

Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 9:40 amPosts: 778Images: 0Location: Earth

Re: 17th Century Fox - OOC

I actually meant in terms of the rules for stats. But here's my character:

-Name-Abhay Pierce

-Character Type-Main Character

-Species- Mongoose (Indian Gray Mongoose)

-Age-23 (6 ½ human years)

-Neighborhood-17th Century Fox

-Appearance-Abhay has gray fur with a slightly lighter shade of gray on his belly and chest. His head and end of his tail have a reddish tip to them and his paws are a darker gray. His wears some leather around his neck as a collar and his left ears has a golden earning in it. He also wears a blue vest.

-Personality-Abhay is very energized and restless. His experiences have taught him life can change in a moment and he lives on that philosophy. His motto is Carpe diem! He is somewhat shy and doesn't talk much, perfering actions to words, but can be playful and fun to those who get to know him. Though sometimes he can come off as uncouth or rude.

-Backstory-Fortunes can change, a lesson Abhay knows well. He has been shifted from owner to owner, often debt on games of chance or cards. Sometimes he was just sold to someone else or collected as part of a dept. It went this way, all the way from India to Spain, where he was won in a card game by a man who would become a crew member of the ship Impudence. His fortunes may change again, but he hopes they won't. He has found his love of being on the sea.

-Appearance-Rhyme is shorter than most dogs of her type. She has fluffy white fur with some brown around her eyes and ears. Her ears are pointed and somewhat floppy. A strand of fur from her head as a tendency to cover one of her eyes, which are a pale blue color. When she speaks her voice is soft and carries a french accent. She doesn't have any weapons on her person but usually is seen holding a fiddle.

-Personality-To describe Rhyme would be to describe two types of dogs. To most of the crew, she's just known as the dog that plays the string instrument at the social gatherings they have sometimes (cause pirates always have parties ^_^). When performing she can flash a smile and play her instrument in front of a crowd of a thousand without breaking a sweat. Though offstage she's reserved and shy. When there's not much commotion on the ship, Rhyme can be a pretty private pooch, usually spending her time below the deck in her room or at the stern of the ship, where she can practice privately. Though she doesn't like to talk much, when in the company of others she's kind and good-natured. She is considerably more observant than most, and her extensive knowledge aids her when problems arise. But one thing she cannot stand is fighting or the abuse of other animals.

-Other Notes-History:Rhyme wasn't always a seadog. She used to be simply, a dog, who's owner was a bard living in the Basque Country, a place in France bordering Spain and the Atlantic Sea. When the Thrity Years' War reached their town they fled, taking their act along the European coast until they happened upon a ship known as The Impudence.

well you also didn't say not to play as a rat either.better set that limit soon before more show up.

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Thu May 16, 2013 8:22 pm

Hlaoroo

E-Quoll to Any Challenge!

Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:09 amPosts: 8305Location: Down Under

Re: 17th Century Fox - OOC

It would be good to have some more rats though. They can get up to all kinds of underpawed trickery without being noticed. Also, they don't have to work on the ship so they have plenty of time to do, well, anything they like, really. Anybody want a rat as a second character?That reminds me, Argent. Are we using the standard 2 main, 3 minor character rules?

It would be good to have some more rats though. They can get up to all kinds of underpawed trickery without being noticed. Also, they don't have to work on the ship so they have plenty of time to do, well, anything they like, really. Anybody want a rat as a second character?That reminds me, Argent. Are we using the standard 2 main, 3 minor character rules?

I'd like to stick to two animals, and their owners if they have any. That's pretty close to 2+3. Minor characters beyond owners? Only if the narrative demands it.

NPCs are NPCs, they're part of the furniture. But if anyone has an NPC act out of character, we can't let it stand.

With a crew of 100 the Impudence must be a sizeable ship. Do you think you can find a picture to approximate the image in your mind so that we know exactly what we're dealing with, Argent? Is she high-prowed? Heavy on the sails? Square-rigged? 3 masts? Sloop or schooner? There's not really a description of the ship herself in the RP description so I'd like to know what kind of space and gear we've got to play around in and with.

Three masted galleon, nominal crew of 150... warships (and pirates) would need more men than that. Impudence only has 25 guns, and two chasers. It's fitted for 28 but some were lost in the wreck and couldn't be salvaged... so half the crew is needed just to man the gun deck, if they want to keep both broadsides ready.

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